Owls right-hander Kenny Baugh scattered nine hits and held Tech to two runs, and the Rice offense slugged two home runs and took advantage of two errors for a 5-2 victory Friday in the opening round of the Houston Regional at Cougar Field.

It was an encore performance for Baugh, who had baffled the Red Raiders in last year's Lubbock Regional.

''We've got to take our hat off to the guy pitching for the other team,'' Tech head coach Larry Hays said. ''He was the difference. We played our usual defense and had our usual team speed, and when you put those two negatives together ... their pitcher would not let us get away with it.''

Rice pitcher Kenny Baugh, center, is greeted by teammates after piching a complete game to beat Texas Tech 5-2 during a first-round NCAA regional matchup Friday, May 26, 2000, in Houston.

Associated Press Photo

The loss drops Tech into today's 11 a.m. elimination game against Princeton, 7-6 loser to Houston.

Baugh, who admitted after the game he had better control last year in Lubbock, walked just two and struck out eight on 132 pitches. But after allowing two runs through five innings, he got better down the stretch, facing just two batters more than the minimum and getting help from double plays in the eighth and ninth innings.

''Last year I thought I probably had a little better command,'' Baugh said. ''I was able to fight today, and the defense picked me up a bunch of times.''

Baugh's performance and what Rice head coach Wayne Graham called one of his team's best efforts of the season overshadowed another complete-game outing by Tech right-hander Kevin Tracey. In eight innings Tracey gave up five runs, four earned, on 11 hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Tracey allowed a two-run home run to Jason Gray in the first and Eric Arnold's solo shot in the fifth after Tech had tied the game at 2-2.

''I have no excuse; I just didn't get it done,'' Tracey said. ''I made some bad pitches, left some pitches up and at this point of the season they're going to make you pay and they did.''

The Owls also took advantage of a two-out throwing error by third baseman David O'Keeffe with a Jayme Sperring RBI single that pushed the lead to 4-2 in the sixth. Sperring got another run-scoring single for a 5-2 lead in the eighth.

''I was proud of Tracey,'' Hays said. ''He made a couple mistakes, but outside of that he pitched pretty well. If we don't make the error and keep a one-run game, we wouldn't hit into quite as many double plays. But our defense really messed us up again.''

After surviving the initial jump by the Owls, Tech rallied with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Chaz Eiguren, who finished 4-for-4, nubbed a one-out blooper to right and went to second on a Baugh wild pitch. After Baugh struck out Chad Landry, Shaun Larkin and David O'Keeffe collected singles. O'Keeffe's drive to left scored Eiguren from second and cut Rice's lead to 2-1.

In the fifth, Tech tied the game on a Marco Cunningham one-out single and a two-out, run-scoring grounder by Eiguren through the hole at third base.

After that, however, Baugh retired seven of the next eight batters, getting through the critical sixth and seventh innings on a combined 17 pitches.

Rice didn't leave the score tied long. With one out, Arnold drove a 1-1 offering from Tracey into the McDonald's parking lot across the street from left field, putting the Owls up 3-2. Gray then singled, stole second and advanced to third when Tech catcher Trey Lunsford's throw went into center field.

But Tracey got Jesse Roman to ground out to a drawn-in infield and enticed Mitch Ackal into an inning-ending fly ball to center.

Tracey appeared to be cruising in the sixth, picking Jerry Van Noy off first after his bunt single. But O'Keeffe short-hopped the throw to first on a John Lukin grounder, allowing Lukin to make it to second. He scored on Sperring's first RBI single to center for a 4-2 Owls lead.

Tech's offense, meanwhile, could never break through against Baugh. Tech left eight runners on base, including three in scoring position in the first five innings.

''I think we hit (Baugh) well enough. That's about as well as you're going to hit him,'' Hays said. ''He picks on our athletic ability a little bit, changing speeds real well. We got probably more hits than I thought we would. If he'd pitched like he did last year I think we could have beaten him. I thought he was better today.''